A new study out of Columbia University suggests that sleep deprivation may actually make you eat more. They found that:
People who are sleep-deprived will eat more foods high in fat and protein When compared to other women who had slept nine hours, women who had only slept four hours consumed 329 more calories on average When compared to other men who had slept nine hours, men who had only slept four hours consumed 263 more calories on average
While both men and women ate more high-protein food, sleep-deprived women ate on average 31 more grams of fat than did their male counterparts. There are several possible reasons that people with less sleep eat more. Less sleep leads to poor judgment in many situations, and if you’re very tired throughout the day you may either eat more food to attempt to stay awake, or constantly look for quick fixes like energy drinks and bars, which are more often than not full of sugar and calories (they also can make it even more difficult to fall asleep, which makes the problem of eating because of sleep deprivation that much worse).
